Northerly Nomad

  I'm a big fan of a good pack. This was my second time purchasing a good name brand pack, so I knew more what I was looking for this time around. It has everything I insist on having in a backpack.. bottle pockets, a built in rain tarp, and a mesh open air backboard. This backpack set the standard for me, and influenced a later purchase of a bigger one. It may even be... my favourite! That being said, this pack is considered 'small'. It's 35 liters fully extended, and 30 liters compressed. It has a compression zipper built in around the bottom half that will pull the bag closer to your body when it isn't completely full, making lighter loads more comfortable to carry without the pack sagging down. It also has a zipper access to the bottom of the main pocket, a zip-up divider for the main compartment- and a whole separate front compartment with little mesh elasticized pockets to organize tools, gadgets and other small necessities. There is a small zip-up pocket on ...

  I guess it's been on my mind a lot lately. At least for the last decade or so.. the 'blackout' was already ten years ago. Summer of 2003 most of the northeast and some of the midwest experienced a widespread power outage. Some places were without power into the evening, other places such as the old forgotten neighbourhood I lived in went three or more days in darkness before the power was restored. My recurring dreams tell tales of a powerless society, I often catch short glimpses into a world where we no longer have access to this much sought after and often taken for granted utility. I always wonder where I'm going to be when it happens, who I'll be with, what I'd have access to in that moment.. every time the power goes out for no weather related reasons I wonder is this it? ...now what? Lets go back to 2003 for a minute. I remember it like it was yesterday, I was 18.. it was my first year on the job in the company i'm [back] at now. I worked in the ph...

  I have always naturally been interested in living a minimal lifestyle. Now that I'm housed it has become more of a challenge, one that I feel is time to get serious about right away. These things especially come to mind this time of year, when people feel the need to go out and spend money on things to give one another that we may or may not even need. Personally I have never really been huge on the idea, I'd rather spend time than money on the people that I love. The smiles and memories long outlast plastic gadgets and trendy do-dads and toys. You would think that a person who has spent a considerable amount of time living out of a rucksack may not own a lot of things, but in my case it seems this rolling stone did pick up an abundance of moss along the way. I had become so resourceful in the craft of living sans address that I had several different places to store my things and lost track of what I had already owned. Finally in the last move, all ...

  I promised myself I'd write more about my past, I don't see it at all as something to be ashamed of, but something to celebrate in many ways. First off, I survived.. and some would say that some of those years were the best years of my life. Living outside was once my preferred lifestyle. At first I had little choice in the matter, but once I got used to it, it wasn't easy to go back to being housed. I am still reminded in my everyday life what it was like to be on the outside, and I cherish those moments.. for those are the moments that people seek to achieve and have a hard time doing so, living 'in the now'.. being 'present'. It's one of those things that people in this rush and go society barely know, but out there.. every hour of every day is made up of moments. It's hard not to be present when every thing you do and every choice you make has an impact on the reality of your survival. I still have my cart, the one I used to load up from my st...